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Eni Faleomavaego

Eni Faleomavaego is the American Samoa member of the U.S House of representatives. He has been representing American Samoa in the Congress since 1989, and is the longest serving and only Samoan in the U.S Congress.

On September 22, 2010, in his capacity as the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment, Congressman Faleomavaega convened the first hearing in the history of the U.S. Congress to include testimony from West Papua’s traditional and religious leaders. The hearing, Crimes Against Humanity: When Will Indonesia’s Military Be Held Accountable for Deliberate and Systematic Abuses in West Papua, also included testimony from scholars and administration officials from the U.S. Departments of State and Defence.

Congressman Faleomavaego received the John Rumbiak Human Rights Defender Award in 2011 for his long advocacy of the defence of human rights in West Papua.